Cayman Islands Financial Services

On May 13, an Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) was signed between the Cayman Islands and Portugal. The document was signed by Cayman Island Premier, McKeeva Bush, and Sergio Vasques, the Portuguese Secretary of State of Tax Affairs.

The TIEA is based on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) model agreement. The document allows the exchange of tax information between the tax authorities of the 2 jurisdictions on request in case there is evidence of the perpetration of a tax crime.

At a signing ceremony, Bush stated: “It is my pleasure to sign a tax information exchange agreement this afternoon. We are particularly pleased to be signing this agreement on Cayman soil and are grateful to the Portuguese delegation for taking the time to visit our shores.” He also said: “Some of Portugal’s major financial institutions which have a presence in the Cayman Islands and are licensed by our regulator, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority. We see this as a sign of confidence in our financial services industry and we hope that this agreement may help expand opportunities for more commercial activities between our 2 countries.”

The government of India will proceed with negotiations towards tax information exchange agreements with the Cayman Islands as well as other 8 low-tax jurisdictions.

The Indian government has approved the notification of the offshore jurisdictions for the purpose of the Income Tax Act 1961. These are the Cayman Islands as well as the British Virgin Islands, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man, Bermuda, the Netherland Antilles, and Macau. Also, the notification of Hong Kong is in process.

The Cayman Islands and India could not enter into agreement until India’s Section 90 of the Income Tax Act was amended by the Finance Act 2009 as then India could enter agreements only with sovereign states.

On April 1, 2010, Assistant Treasurer, Nick Sherry, announced that Australia has signed 7 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs). This move revealed its efforts to achieve greater transparency in tax-related issues.

Australia has announced that it signed a TIEA with the Cayman Islands.

Also, on March 30 and 31, Australia signed TIEAs with the following jurisdictions:
- Belize,
- the Bahamas,
- Dominica,
- Grenada,
- Saint Lucia,
- the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The government of the Cayman Islands has committed to the signing of further 16 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) with jurisdictions of economic significance. This is expected to be done in additional to the 14 TIEAs that have already been concluded.

According to the government, this announcement demonstrates Cayman’s commitment to transparency and the exchange of tax information in cooperation with 3rd country tax authorities, as regards the fight against tax evasion.

The Cayman Islands government announced that it has agreed to sign an agreement with Australia on March 30. Also, it is awaiting signing dates for the agreements with Aruba, Canada, Germany, Italy, Mexico and South Africa. In addition, negotiations with 9 additional OECD/G-20 countries are in various stages.

According to Caymans Islands Premier, McKeeva Bush, the jurisdiction looks forward to continuing this engagement. He said that Cayman is doing its part “in demonstrating the effectiveness of our transparency regimes and our expertise as a jurisdiction”.

On October 29, 2009, the Cayman Islands signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with the Netherlands Antilles. The signing took place at the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF) plenary held in Curacao.

This is the 14th Tax Information Exchange Agreement signed by the Cayman Islands. It was signed on behalf of the Cayman Islands by the Cayman Attorney General, Samuel Bulgin.

When commenting on the signing, Bulgin said: “This signing represents the Cayman Islands’ continued commitment to OECD standards for transparency and exchange of information on tax matters. It will commemorate the beginning of what I am sure will be a mutually-rewarding relationship between the Cayman Islands and the Netherlands Antilles.”

According to the government, negotiations on signing TIEAs have also been completed with Aruba, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy and Mexico. Agreements are expected to be signed by the end of 2009. Also, negotiations are ongoing with Argentina, Belgium, China, Czech Republic, India, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Spain and South Africa.

On October 14, the Ministry of Financial Services announced that the Cayman Islands has signed a tax information agreement with France. The Ministry expressed its hope that this agreement would help attract French financial institutions and companies.

According to the Ministry’s press release, the new treaty was signed with Paris via an exchange of letters on October 5, 2009.

This is the 13th bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) signed by the Cayman Islands. The jurisdiction has bilateral TIEAs signed with Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US.

The Cayman Islands and New Zealand signed a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA). This TIEA is the 12th TIEA signed by the Cayman Islands. Signing the treaty, Cayman moved onto the white list of jurisdictions that have “substantially implemented” the internationally agreed tax standard set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

According to the Cayman Islands’ Leader of Government Business/Premier Designate, McKeeva Bush, “For over 4 decades the Cayman Islands has steadily earned its place as a world-class international financial services center. The Cayman Islands Government sees the OECD’s recognition as a natural outcome of the country’s substantial commitment to uphold an equally world-class international cooperation regime in the exchange of tax information.”

Director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Jeffrey Owens, welcomed the signing and noted that the Cayman Islands extends its network of agreements and intends to implement them effectively and quickly.

New Zealand’s Revenue Minister, Peter Dunne, said that low-tax offshore financial centers want to achieve a sufficient number of TIEAs in order to allow them to be seen as meeting the OECD’s standards, so lately several TIEAs have been signed. For example, on July 21, New Zealand signed a TIEA with Guernsey, and on July 28, New Zealand signed a TIEA with Jersey. Also, the TIEAs were signed by New Zealand the British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar.